One of the main reasons the Federalists went away is because they did not support the War of 1812. After the war was won, the Federalists ceased to be a national party.

And if I remember correctly, the Fedealists went out of business as a national party after Jefferson left amid criticism from his embargo against France and Britian, not before. It was during Madison’s time, after the War of 1812, *not* during Jefferson’s Presidency. I’m not sure where you get your history from.

With regards to your comments, Jefferson’s America still never really existed, which was the point of my original post. The centralization and the national movement towards things such as tarriffs, central bank, loose interpretations of the constitution, etc., all happened during Jefferson’s era. This is not to say that the man himself was to blame – he argued against these things. But it is to say, with much reason, that he did not accomplish some of the most important things that he wished to achieve, and even ruminated over this after his ‘failed’ second term.

I lay the blame on the American people, as I stated in my previous post. My points still stand, as they are valid.

And while we are on the topic of Economics, and I hate to be off topic. But, I read in an article from the San Fran Gate, that David Friedman has come out an endorsed Sen. Obama. I was wondering what are your thoughts on that, for a lack of better words, bomb-drop.

First of all, Jefferson’s America never really came to be. The Articles were replaced by our Constitution in just a few short years, and Jefferson battled against all other forms of centralization, among which he lost nearly completely. The central bank, the idea of a strict interpretation of the Constitution, the ideal of the States being sovereign over the nation – the list goes on and on. Hamilton, a fan of the English system and even the monarchy, won nearly every time, even though Washington was supposedly non-biased. The Hamilton-Jefferson cabinet might as well have been the Hamilton-Hamilton cabinet.

Who was cheering on this expansionist central government, anyway? Why, the American people. After Shay’s Rebellion, wealthy American’s began beginning for a government stronger than the Articles gave them. Who was leading this charge? Why, two great lovers of liberty; Washington and Franklin. Remember these guys? The people who were supposed to be the ideals of classical liberalism in modern day thought?

The point is this; Jefferson’s American lasted merely several years, if at all, after being replaced by the beginnings of the new super state that we now toil for. There was never any real liberal society according to Jefferson, who lost nearly ever argument he had against the increasingly centralized state that Hamilton and the Federalists argued for.

Jefferson’s legacy is that of an ideal, something that never really full manifested itself, and something that is unlikely to ever manifest itself again. If Americans then were scared of the super state, and were dumb enough to vote still greater powers to the new central government, then we really have no hope of rallying them towards something that looks even remotely free.

The idea of a Jefferson America is a myth, and the idea of a smart American, even back then, is as well. Americans have always been, for lack of a better word, idiots.

“…it gave me great satisfaction to find that, in general, I had only
to reduce the law to its ancient Saxon condition, stripping it of all
the innovations and rigorisms of subsequent times, to make it what it
should be.” (quoted in J.C.D. Clark, The Language of Liberty, 1660-1832: Political Discourse and Social Dynamics in the Anglo-American World, p. 138)